Safety hand guard



Feb. 4, 1958 w. K. MILLER 2,822,211

SAFETY HAND GUARD Filed May 1'7, 1954 ENTOR WALT .MiLLER ATTORNEYS United States Patent a SAFETY IMND GUARD Walter K. Miller, AppletohfWia, sas siignor to Advance This invention appertains to railway car movers, and more particularly to a novel safety hand guard attachment for the handles of car movers.

In moving boxcars and other railway rolling stock a short distance, it is customary to utilize a hand implement embodying an operating handle and means for simultaneously engaging a car wheel and a rail. Considerable downward thrust must be exerted on the handle to advance the car. This frequently results in the operatoris fingers being mashed between the handle and the rat One of the primary objects of my invention is to provide a safety hand guard attachment for the handles of railway car movers to effectively eliminate the hazard of a workmans hand being injured, which embodies means for attachment to the handle and a guard portion transversely of the handle and transversely to a railroad rail so that the guard will eflfectively engage a rail upon the downward thrust of the handle and thus prevent the hand of the operator from contacting the rail.

A further important object of my invention is the provision of a safety hand guard which can be easily applied to handles of different diameters and to the handles of various appliances besides railway car movers, such as the handles of wheelbarrows, prying bars of all kinds, etc.

A still further object of my invention is the provision of a hand guard for handles embodying a body portion for embracing a part of a handle and for receiving a U-shaped clamp for gripping the handle in combination with an arcuate rim constituting the guard, the rim being so-arranged as to extend transversely of the handle so as to assure a wide bearing face for contact with the rail or other obstruction.

A still further important feature of my invention is to provide a hand guard of the above character, which will be durable and eflicient in use, one that will be simple and easy to manufacture and one which can be placed upon the market at a reasonable cost.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists in the novel construction, arrangement and formation of parts, as will be hereinafter more specifically described and claimed, and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which drawing,

Figure 1 is a side elevational view showing my hand guard applied to the handle of a railway car mover, the car mover being shown in use;

Figure 2 is a transverse sectional view through the handle with the guard applied thereto, parts of the guard being shown broken away and in section, the view being represented by the line 22 of Figure 1 of the drawings, looking in the direction of the arrows;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary top plan view showing the guard applied to a handle, parts of the guard being shown broken away and in section, and

Figure 4 is a front elevational view showing a slightly modified form of my guard, the guard being applied to a handle and the handle being shown in transverse crosssection.

. Patented Feb. 4,1958

Referring to the .drawinglindtail, wherein similar reference characters designate corresponding parts throughout the several views, the letter 1G generally indicates my improved hand guard which can be effectively used in connection with a railwayIcar mover M.

The car mover itself forms no [part of the present invention, but the same includes a manipulating handle 5, a shoe 6, for engaging arm of a railroad and -a jaw-7 for engaging and pushing a wheel of a railway car. By referring to Figure 1, it can be seen that the car is advanced by pushing down on the handle 5, and obviously considerable force must be placed upon the handle to advance the car and consequently, the hands of the operator are in constant danger of being crushed between the rail and the handle.

My guard G effectively eliminates this hazard, and while the guard has been specially designed for the handles of car movers, it is to be understood that the guard can be used for other purposes, such as on the handles of wheelbarrows and like appliances, where there is danger of a workmans hand striking against a dolly or other obstruction. As best shown in Figures 2 and 3, the guard G includes a body portion 8 having a central V-shaped jaw 9 and end ears 10. The outer face of the jaw 9 is provided with transversely extending ribs or cleats 11 for a purpose which will be later brought out. The cars 10 are slotted, as at 12, for the reception of the legs 13 of a substantially U-shaped clamping bolt 14. The terminals of the legs 13 are threaded for the reception of holding nuts 15. The guard G also includes a flat arcuate rim 16 which extends beyond the body 8, and this rim is rigidly and solidly connected with the body by webs.

In use of the guard, the V-shaped jaw 9 is placed on the lower surface of the handle (when used in connection with car movers), after which the U-shaped bolt is placed around the handle to straddle the same, and the legs 13 of the bolt are passed through the slots 12, after which the jaw 9 and the bolt 13 are brought into tight gripping contact with the handle by adjusting the nuts 15. In view of the V-shape of the jaw 9 and the slots 12, different diameters of handles can be accommodated and obviously, with a larger diameter of handle a different size clamping bolt 14 is utilized.

One of the main features of the invention is that the guard extends transversely of the handle, with the rim 16 projecting a material distance beyond the opposite sides of the handle. Consequently, the rim 16 will effectively engage a rail or other obstruction so that the guard will not be knocked out of the way when brought into contact with a rail or other obstruction.

In Figure 4 I have illustrated a slightly modified form of my invention, and in this form the guard will only accommodate one size of handle or slight variations of a particular size of handle. The guard as shown in Figure 4 is constructed essentially the same as the guard in the preferred form, but the same includes an arcuate jaw 18 in lieu of the V-shaped jaw 9. The cars 19 at the ends of the jaw are provided with straight openings 20 for receiving the legs of a clamping bolt 21.

From the foregoing description, it can be seen that I have provided a simple, but rugged form of a safety hand guard which can be easily and quickly applied to a handle and which will prevent injury to the hands of a workman.

It is to be understood that the rim 16 can continue entirely around the handle, should such be desired. The guard can be made of any desired material, preferably metal, but the same can be made of rubber suitably reinforced, or the rim 16 can be provided with a rubber bumper.

Changes in details may be made without departing from the spirit or the scope of this invention, but what I claim as new is:

In a safety hand guard attachment for handles comprising a body portion adapted to extend transversely of a handle and including a V-shaped handle receiving seat, the active faces of said seat being provided with ribs, ears formed on the ends of the seat provided with slots, a U-shaped clamping bolt for straddling the handle including legs passing through the slots, nuts threaded on the legs of the bolts against the ears, whereby said hand guard may be secured to different sized handles and firmly held thereto, an arcuate flat rim spaced from the References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 568,024 Gorman Sept. 22, 1896 1,297,661 Cooper Mar. 18, 1919 1,363,967 Fulton Dec. 28, 1920 2,561,523 Lux July 24, 1951 

